Pasar Baru is the central market of Tanjung Pinang and the best place in the city to understand what is traded, grown, caught, and eaten in the Riau Islands. The wet market section operates from before dawn until mid-morning, when fishing boats arrive with the night's catch — you will see species here that never appear on a menu, hauled in and cleaned at speed by vendors who have been doing this since childhood.
The dry market surrounds the wet section with stalls selling textiles, electronics, household goods, dried goods, and spices. Prices are negotiable; most vendors have a smattering of English picked up from decades of trading with Singapore. The surrounding streets become an informal night market from about 6pm onwards, with cooks setting up portable grills and woks for the evening crowd.